Travel ideas

[wi divers]

My husband and I will be celebrating 30 years of wedded bliss in June. We love Cozumel but are looking for a new location. We have already been to Hawaii and Florida Keys. We want to be able to get to our destination from Chicago within 8 hours. We would like to keep it to around $2500pp. We are looking for All Inclusive.
Thank you for all suggestions.

 

[diversteve]

Some to look at - I probably have been to or know something about most of these (except Belize) so reply/PM if any are of interest. I mostly listed true AI resorts or ones that can be done optionally with add-on meal plans etc. Listed lower end to upscale in both price/amenities also. I'm pretty sure most of these are accessible from Chicago for under $800 or less - in some cases like Grand Cayman closer to $500. One thing to factor in also is many of these resorts have up to 20% local tax add-ons. Some may include it in the price.

Roatan

Cocoview
Anthony's Key Resort
Barefoot Cay - over your budget except they have a 25% off June special.

Utila - a little harder to get to.

Laguna Beach Resort
Utopia Village

Grand Cayman

Sunset House
Cobalt Coast

Little Cayman - accessed thru Grand Cayman
Little Cayman Beach Resort

Curacao

Sunscape
Lions Dive Resort
Lodge Kura Hulanda

Bonaire

Divi Flamingo Resort
Plaza Resort

Other package options - Room/truck rental/diving/breakfast are:

Buddy Dive
Capt' Don's Habitat
Eden Beach
Harbour Village

Belize - some of these may not be true AI - others certainly are since they're on the Atolls so isolated by geography. Typically you stay out on the Atolls if you primarily want to dive since most only offer a weekly shuttle. The mainland resorts have access to all the other eco-tourism activities Belize is known for but you trade-off longer boat ride times.

mainland:

Hamanasi
Inn at Roberts Grove
Turtle Inn - upscale

atolls:

Thatch Caye
Blackbird Caye
Turneffe Island Resort

I believe Anse Chastenet on St. Lucia is an AI resort also.

Check the dive travel agent websites also - most are fee paid by the resort. We used Caradonna.com once and I was happy with the result. Ultimate Dive and Travel is in the Chicago area. Ultimate Dive Travel Home - Ultimate Dive Travel

 

[drrich2]

Diver Steve laid out where you can go. I'll come at your issue from a different angle; what you want to go find. You mostly dove Cozumel & liked it, and have tried Hawaii & the Florida Keys. So your main experience (Cozumel) is warm excellent viz. rather deep drift diving with varied topography and attractive reefs and a decent amount of fairly 'big stuff' (e.g.: black grouper, eagle ray, southern stingray, green moray), yes? You've also done shallow warm water good viz. 'spur & groove formation' reef diving in the Keys, which can be quite fishy, with some big stuff (e.g.: black grouper, stingrays, green morays, big barracuda, nurse sharks, some reef sharks). I haven't been to Hawaii so I don't know much on that; if you dove boat, shore or both, whether you did the night manta dive, etc...

With that frame of reference, why do you want a new location?

I ask, because we need to know if you want 'just a different name' with the same stuff, or you want to try something new? Are we talking new topside (e.g.: mountainous lush rainforest in St. Lucia, Saba or Dominica if I understand correctly), or underwater (e.g.: pinnacle diving in Saba; shore diving in Bonaire or Curacao; a shark feeding dive somewhere; reefs known for natural shark sightings).

What do you want to do besides dive? Do either of you...

1.) Lay on the beach & bake, or walk up & down it?

2.) Dance & Party?

3.) Spend a lot of time in bars?

4.) Zip Line or do aerial trams, rain forest hikes, Mayan ruin tours, horseback riding, cave tubing, ATV tours, etc...?

5.) Shop a lot?

6.) Put a big value on 'authentic' local culture vs. prefer a nice, easy 'everybody speaks English & accepts dollars & credit cards' type experience?

7.) Prefer guided boat dives, self-guided anytime shore diving, or something else? Are you macro lovers (e.g.: nudibranchs), or do you like to see lots of big stuff?

8.) What appeals to you about AI? If a place were otherwise a good match & restaurants were close & convenient, would that still matter? Is 'all you can drink booze' important with an AI for you?

9.) A live-aboard would cost a bit more than you planned when tips are considered, but it's about as 'AI' as it gets, different than what you've done before (unless you did the Kona Aggressor maybe?), offers a lot of diving (sometimes with access to remote sites) for the money and many people love them. Is one an option?

Richard.

 

[wi divers]

Diver Steve, Thank you for the information on where to stay.

Richard, you ask some good questions. We like to walk on the beach and lay out on the beach. We don't drink that much so the bar scene and partying isn't really us. I'm not a big shopper. We do like to look for a few souvenirs to take back home. We do like to take in some of the local culture. ( Mayan ruin tours and rainforest tours)Zip-lining could be fun. We have done both shore and boat dives with and without guides. A guide is nice to show you where to find the sea creatures. I like the macro critters but my hubby would like to see the big stuff. We have seen sea turtles, manta rays, barracuda, nurse sharks, seahorse, Christmas tree worms, etc. Since it is our anniversary we would like to be pampered a little and not have to cook for ourselves. We have thought about live-aboard. What would you suggest? Our biggest focus is to dive, relax and enjoy each other's undivided attention.


wi divers

 

[diversteve]

I'm a big fan of liveaboard diving but they're not especially private since all dives, meals, after meal activities are pretty communal. About the only place to be by yourselves is some odd corner of the deck(s) or your cabin. Some like Aquacat or Cuan Law do offer shore excursions, kayaks etc. but others like the Turks/Caicos Explorer you stay on the boat the whole week. There really aren't many "upscale" liveaboards working within 8 hrs. of Chicago - the really nice ones are in the Maldives and Thailand/Indonesia. And cost more per person than your total budget.

Based on your response, I've shortened my list considerably - keying in on big stuff and pampering.

Roatan
Barefoot Cay - no big stuff though typically. Except at the paid Shark Dive or the Dolphin Dive at AKR.
We did see a few larger grouper and a lot of turtles.

Utila
Utopia Village except there's not much else to do there - and the resort is isolated from town by a 10min. boat ride. Not too many sharks but there's always a chance to see Whale Sharks - although they're more common in spring.

Belize in June they'll still be diving with Whale Sharks at Gladden Spit during the full moon. For that you'd need to base at one of the southern resorts since it's practically too far from the Atoll resorts. Reef sharks are seen everywhere.

Hamanasi
Inn at Roberts Grove
Turtle Inn

Maybe look at Dominica also. No idea of where though since it takes 2 days for us to get there from the west coast so I've never tried. Someone recently posted there's whales spotted there all year long.

Turks/Caicos also. There's a lot of big stuff there, out at the more remote dive sites (about an hour boat ride) they see sharks, stingrays, grouper, possibly dolphin on every single dive. I know because I've been there on the T/C Explorer. Providenciales (Provo) has some stunning beaches - Grace Bay Beach is called the nicest in the world. In some areas it's still pretty quiet, near the larger resorts there's beach chairs on it now. But most of the resorts are set back a little from the water. Lots of upscale properties on it so pampering is going to depend on how much you want to spend - everything from Comfort Suites to 5* resorts. There's a Club Med, a Breezes (maybe Beaches?) but it's a kid-friendly resort and the Verandah's which is the upscale AI resort.

The other option is puddle jump over to either Grand Turk - the cruise ships dock there though - or Salt Cay which is really small and quiet. Neither has a lot of other things to do though. Bohio Dive Resort is an AI due to location - there's also another I can't remember.

It's not AI but there's some nice beachfront resorts on Grand Cayman also. The Ritz-Carlton, a Marriott Grand, the Westin etc. Dive ops pick you up for boat dives and there's a dozen or so shore dives within a few miles drive. Food would be really expensive though on a non-AI basis. It's really excellent wall diving with a lot of larger critters - even some sharks. And Stingray City is fun once. In June the weather should be cooperating so you can dive the North Wall.

 

[molina67]

Check out Funjet vacations I have booked two all inclusive vacations with them and can not complain. Just return from Punta Cana on the 2nd of Jan 2015 and it was awesome. Came to 1700 pp including flight and transportation to and from the airport.

 

[KathyV]

Congratulations on your anniversary! We have been celebrating our anniversary with vacations for 37 years.

Check out the Brac Reef Beach Resort on Cayman Brac; the Clearly Cayman package (see below) cost $1590/pp and that covers everything except airfare and tips for the divemasters.

It's a nice, clean, modern, small diver-dedicated resort. It has a lovely beach, good service, beautiful reefs, lots of sealife, great dive operation with valet diving, and terrific food. Cayman Brac is a very quiet island and there is not a lot of nightlife but that's not important to us either; it is one of our favorite dive vacation locations.

The resort is near a large pond that includes lots of wildlife. The resort offer a tennis court and pool and free use of bicycles. We usually rent a car for one day to explore. It's beautiful place and the people are very nice. There's not much shopping but you can certainly find souvenirs there and at the Grand Cayman airport departure lounge.

If you can manage it you might want to add-on a couple of days on Grand Cayman, lots of topside attractions are available there and you have to fly to GC to travel to Brac via a short interisland flight.

CLEARLY CAYMAN PACKAGE

Valid for travel January 3 – December 16 2015

7 Nights Accommodations
Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner
Three Drinks Nightly
17 Boat Dives
Airport Ground Transfers
Free Welcome Rum Punch
Hotel Taxes & Service Fees
$1590

 

[drrich2]

We have thought about live-aboard. What would you suggest?

Some of what you like, such as beach & local culture, probably won't come on a live-aboard much, though you'll likely rack up a lot more dives on one.

If you could come up with more money, how much time can you devote to this? I'm asking for a reason...

Some dive destinations are mainly serviced by charter boats from the mainland or island (e.g.: Cozumel). Some are serviced mainly by live-aboard (e.g.: the Exumas, I think). And some are serviced by both (e.g.: Belize, Turks & Caicos, the Cayman Islands). Looking at that last category can help you think through a live-aboard vs. land-based, even if that's not the destination you want. Let's take an example.

Belize, just south of Mexico, has the Meso-American reef system, and given the location should be at least as warm as Cozumel. From what I understand, it's not so much a drift diving location. The mainland has a number of non-diving activities (e.g.: on a cruise stop & did a boat trip up New River to Lamanai for a rainforest tour & saw 3 Mayan ruins & climbed atop 2 of them; a lot of fun; some people go cave tubing, or to the zoo). But the best diving is from live-aboard or the off-shore case, not the mainland. You could compare the Sun Dancer 2 live-aboard vs. a trip to one of the resorts (maybe Turneffe Flats?).

Another option is to commit part of your trip to diving, and part to land-based activities. How about 5 days diving, & 3 days pursuing land excursions?

Richard.

 

[KathyV]

I forgot to mention that we also travel from Chicago and last October the total round-trip air for both of us from ORD to GC and Brac was $1370. I don't know if cheaper fares are currently available, but Reef Fantaseas (the agency that books reservations for both Brac Reef Beach Resort and Little Cayman Beach Resort) can advise you about air options.

If you still haven't figured out where you are going by the end of February - although that may be cutting it too close - consider attending the Our World Underwater dive show in Rosemont near O'Hare. There will be a lot of dive travel vendors there and they often offer "show specials". Good luck!

 

[wi divers]

Kathy V,

We have been attending Our World Underwater for about 5 years. Normally we book in advance and spend the weekend. We live in a county with a grand total of 1 stop light, so it's a nice get away. So everyone asks, "What do you do after you roll up the side walks at night"? We don't have sidewalks to roll up, so after dark, it's dark. So we enjoy each others company.

We actually had considered passing on OWU this year, but going for the day may be on our agenda.

Thanks,

Husband